Steel Production Starts Strong

Steel production has surged in early 2017.

Domestic raw steel production was up 4.7 percent for the year-to-date through Feb. 25, according to American Iron and Steel Institute statistics. Capacity utilization was at 73.0 percent compared with 70.8 percent a year ago.

World crude steel production increased 7.0 percent to 136.5 million tonnes (Mt) in January from the same period in 2016, the World Steel Association (worldsteel) reported. A 7.4 percent increase in production in China contributed to the sharp rise overall. Researchers attributed the improvement in China largely to the fact that there was a “marked dip” in production in January 2016.

The U.S. produced 6.5 percent more (6.9 MT) of crude steel in January than it did last year.

Steel production increased by:

• 15.6 percent in Africa;
• 13.5 percent in the Middle East;
• 11.6 percent in South America;
• 11.5 percent in Other Europe countries;
• 11.4 percent in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS);
• 7.1 percent in Asia;
• 6.2 percent in Oceania;
• 4.0 percent in North America; and
• 2.4 percent in the European Union.

Production did not decrease in any of the regions tracked by worldsteel. Capacity utilization among the 67 countries that report to the organization was 68.5 percent in January, which was 3.4 percentage points higher than a year ago and 0.9 of a percentage point more than in December.

Photo courtesy of worldsteel.